News Archive

The Columbia University Commencement Ceremony of the 263rd Academic Year is this Wednesday, May 17, at 10:30 a.m. Morningside Campus will be extremely busy leading up to and during the Ceremony. To help us guarantee a safe and comfortable experience for all, the following adjustments to normal campus access will be in effect. Please make sure to familiarize yourself with this critical information.

Victor Lee was rejected by Columbia twice—once when he applied to the College, and later by the University’s College of Dental Medicine— was before he accepted in 2013. But he says he’s glad it turned out that way.

Amir Imani wrote his first computer program, a family phone book, at age 9. The experience sealed his interest in computing. “I always loved making and breaking things,” he said. “Coding gave me a way to explore the enigmatic world of computers.”

For a sixth grade science project, Elise Bixby wanted to test the effectiveness of her grandmother’s osteoporosis medicine on bone density. She carefully put chicken bones into separate Styrofoam cups, with and without the medication, and entered the county science fair.

By the time Neil Duncan (BUS’17) entered Columbia Business School, he was already adept at grappling with—and surmounting—unexpected challenges.

Eighteen Columbia undergraduates learned about the power of philanthropy this semester—by giving away $67,000.

Columbia University announced today that Eugene Robinson, associate editor and columnist of The Washington Post, has been elected chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. The chair serves a one-year appointment, while board members serve a maximum of nine years.

This is a moment of new beginnings both for Columbia, as the University opens the first two buildings on its new Manhattanville campus, and for the more than 15,000 members of the Class of 2017 who graduate on May 17.

Tap dancing and engineering may not seem like they have anything in common. But for graduating senior Vikas Arun, pairing these two passions makes plenty of sense.

Tyshawn Sorey is a musician of many talents: improvisation, 20th-century avant-garde and classical music, rhythm and blues, metal, funk and hip hop, among other genres.

By the time Jonathan (Jonny) Cohen started his freshman year at Columbia Engineering, he had launched a startup and been named—twice—to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list of energy sector leaders for his work in green technology.

Cohen, who graduates in May with a degree in mechanical engineering, has been devising inventions since grade school. One of his first, at age 9, was an intercom system built from scrap parts that he found around his house.

Columbia was one of 12 universities designated by the War Department to create a naval section of the Student Army Training Corps. More than 300 students went through the program and were deployed as naval officers.

When Richard Gamarra was 16, a gun fell out of his backpack during class at a Catholic high school in Queens and he was arrested. It was the beginning of a 12-year journey in and out of prison that ultimately led to Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he will earn a master’s degree this month.

When Majed Abdulsamad earns his degree this month from Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, he will fulfill a lifelong plan—although not in Syria, where he grew up.